Ethnographical research on everyday digital game play by older people

In the last three months, researchers working in the Worthplay project have conducted an ethnographical research with the aim to understand older people relationship with digital games. The study has been carried out in Àgora, an adult educational centre in the Sant Martì district, in Barcelona. Participants have been recruited in several different courses that are regularly carried out in the centre, e.g. ICT, literature, literacy, Catalan and English, thus allowing including those people who are not regular users of Àgora’s computer room and are not especially interested in ICT. 170 older people, with different profiles in terms of gaming, ICT experience and use, were involved in total. The ethnographical study consisted of in situ observations and conversations and other different activities, such as playing sessions, covering a wide variety of games and devices. Overall the study resulted in a total of 54 hours of fieldwork, from February to April 2012.

Similar ethnographical activities with a culturally different cohort of older people are expected to be carried out in Dundee with the aim to qualify and enrich the results.
The results of the ethnographical research intend to guide the co-design process and the evaluation plan that will be carried out in the next months.